128 (Operation Armageddon: Book 1)

Chapter Three: The Precinct Lockdown | Part 2

The lights slowly returned to normal as the darkness dissipated in the brightness. "That shouldn't be happening. Who's playing with the lights?" one of the officers mentioned.

"Whatever it is, stay calm. We are going to figure this out," another officer added.

"How can I stay calm when there's an armed intruder in here? We don't even know their motive!" a civilian screamed.

"Well, it's fairly obvious that they are either going to kill us, rob us or do both!" another one shrieked.

"Rob us? They should get going to the bank then! Not some police station," someone else argued.

Soon, everyone started screaming and hurling insults at one another. It was hard to tell who was speaking and what they were saying then. Matthew's head was already beginning to throb even more painfully by then. He finally decided that he needed to address everyone. It would cause a lot of pain to flood into his head to do what he would do, but he still screamed.

"Enough!" Matthew bellowed deafeningly as most of everyone in the room went quiet.

"But I—," someone tried to protest, but he silenced him immediately.

"I said enough!" he screamed again, this time even more loudly. "I am currently recovering from a concussion, but here I am, screaming twice just to get everyone to cooperate. Please, for goodness sake. If we are going to get out of here, everyone has to stay silent for just a moment and listen," he begged for everyone's cooperation.

"Hey," Daniel whispered to him. "What are you doing? You shouldn't be announcing to everyone about escaping this place. You're going to give the captain a bad impression of yourself." he warned Matthew of his actions.

"It doesn't matter. We have to do something about this. If the lights keep getting adjusted and we can't see anything, it will be to the advantage of the perpetrator to strike us!" Matthew cautioned, comparing the consequences of giving the captain a bad impression with the risk of dying in the precinct.

Just then, the lights in the lobby went out. Again. A loud wailing sound followed afterwards, ending with a thumping sound that faded over time.

Complete silence followed. A man sitting on the floor cringed when he felt something on his hand. "Uh, guys. I feel like there's some liquid or slime on the floor. It's quite wet, although there's only a small puddle of it. There's a light smell too."

"Oh goodness, is it kerosene? I don't want to die today! Not in a fire! Please, someone, help!" another lady shrieked in fear. Soon, overlapping sounds of fearful remarks crossed around the room.

"Okay, that's enough! Everybody, calm down. We will soon find out what that small puddle of liquid is when the power comes back on," Daniel yelled to stop any unnecessary panicking, which would only deter their plans. As such, silence returned.

And so did the power.

"It's blood!" a woman screamed, freaking out as she retreated from the pool of blood that was near her. Everyone else began shrieking with her as they moved away from the blood.

"What the hell? I drenched my hand in someone's blood?" the man that touched the blood with his hands panicked before crawling away desperately.

A woman had just been attacked, seemingly unconscious as a result. At that point in time, safety was utterly out of the picture. Of all places, a police station would be the safest. Their case was unique, however. A case in which not even the precinct was anyone safe anymore.

Not a single person was.

Emma shivered as she squatted at one corner. Unlike her detective friends, she hadn't really been "out in the field". She wasn't trained to process such violent happenings, as she had never really made an arrest. After all, she was just a civilian administrator working in the office. "W-what the hell is happening?" she cried.